NJPW: 10 Greatest Wrestlers of All Time

Credit: NJPW Global Twitter

3. Kazuchika Okada

In the opening slide of this piece, I mentioned that Satoshi Kojima may still have a few accomplishments left him and so his ranking could be a little different if we did this countdown in a few years.  However, if this list is once again written a decade from now, there’s no doubt that Okada would be number 1.  At just 29 years old, “The Rainmaker” has already done everything there is to do in NJPW and is currently not only their world champion, but their far and away top draw.

Okada, at just 19, entered New Japan and the company immediately knew they had a star on their hands.  In order to get the most on their investment, they sent Okada to the United States to learn how to entertain for the television screen to go along with his tremendous ring acumen and movie star good looks.  5 years later Okada returned, and his first full time stint back with the promotion, he defeated Hiroshi Tanahashi for the first of his 4 IWGP Heavyweight Championships.  Since that day, he’s had that belt around his waist for almost 1,200 days combined and he currently wears it now.  Add in wins in the 2012 and 2014 G1 Climax and it appears the company was 100% right about his future.

What sets Okada apart even further this early in his career, is the level of matches he produces.  He has 5 Five-Star Matches from Dave Meltzer, which seemed pretty impressive until he topped that this year with a Six and Six and A Quarter ratings from Meltzer against Kenny Omega, a first for either of those rankings.  For a guy who’s not yet 30, Okada is already putting on some of the greatest matches in pro wrestling history and his legend grows every day.  He’s one of the best in the business already, and there’s a very real chance of him one day being the best to ever lace up a pair of boots.